TPA past president John Crawford dies

Texas Press Association's 106th president, John Harold Crawford, died July 26 in Dallas. He was 91.
Crawford, former editor of the Denison Herald and owner of the Wood County Democrat and Pottsboro Press, served as president of TPA in 1983-84. He was also active in the North and East Texas Press Association, which honored him with the Sam C. Holloway award in 1981.
After training in photography while stationed in Spokane, Wash. with the U.S. Army, he graduated in 1952 from East Texas State Teachers College (now Texas A&M Commerce).
After a brief stint at the newspaper in Vernon, he accepted a reporter/photographer position at the Denison Herald where he eventually became editor. After about 30 years, he and his wife Mary purchased the Wood County Democrat in Quitman in 1982 and soon decided to establish the Pottsboro Press in Pottsboro. They also operated the Whitewright Sun. 
After running the weekly newspaper for a period, he decided to enter politics and was elected as County Judge for Grayson County. Upon retiring from politics, the Crawfords ran a print shop in Denison and he sold advertising for the Denison Herald.
Crawford also taught a beginning journalism course as an adjunct professor at Austin College in Sherman in 1981.
A consummate fan of the English language and its misuse, he took particular joy in a good pun, a double ­entendre or typographical error in printed form. It was always funnier when it was someone else's goof.
He was active in the Lions Club, Rotary Club and Grayson County Frontier Village. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church and was an elder at Hyde Park Presbyterian Church in Denison.
In addition to his wife of 69 years, Mary Ellen Roach, he is survived by two children, three grandchildren, two great grandchildren and other relatives.
Memorials may be made to Hyde Park Presbyterian Church, 1709 S. Hyde Park Dr., Denison, Texas 75020.